The Food Timeline è un sito che raccoglie storia culinaria e ricette dal mondo, organizzate in ordine temporale:

Some experts say it’s impossible to express this topic in exact timeline format. They are correct. Most foods are not invented; they evolve. We make food history fun.

Questo sito è strato creato e gestito interamente per anni (1999 – 2015) da Lynne Olver, una bibliotecaria e storica del cibo che ha attinto e citato accuratamente fonti perlopiù appartenenti alla sua personale raccolta di libri sulla storia del cibo e delle bevande (più di 2000 volumi, in seguito donati dagli eredi alla biblioteca del College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences presso la Virginia Tech). La Heritage Radio ha intervistato Lynne Olver nel 2013 per il podcast A taste of the Past.  Dal 2020 l’aggiornamento e gestione del sito sono stati affidati al dipartimenti di Food Studies della Virginia Tech University.

Ever wonder how the ancient Romans fed their armies? What the pioneers cooked along the Oregon Trail? Who invented the potato chip…and why? So do we!!! Food history presents a fascinating buffet of popular lore and contradictory facts.

Per esempio, possiamo consultare la pagina del Tiramisù (anni 70):

Food historians generally date the invention of tiramisu in the 1960s-1970s and acknowledge its zenith of popularity in the 1980s. It was THE dessert in movie Sleepless in Seattle.The first restaurant to serve Tiramisu is generally thought to be El Toula (est. 1968) in Italy. Or…was it invented in Baltimore? Either way, the ancestors of this dessert (minus the chocolate and the coffee) are Renaissance-era English trifles, 18th century Tipsy cake and 19th century Zuppa Inglese. Before this? Ancient Romans enjoyed breads steeped in honey, wine and spices.

Lynne Olver racconta anche la storia del picnic a The Salt su NPR:

One of the earliest accounts of picnicking, she says, comes from tales of Robin Hood. He and his Merry Men would informally dine on bread, cheese and ale under the trees, Olver says. But picnics, she notes on her site, also evolved from the tradition of elaborate movable feasts among the wealthy.